


How to Lose a Staring Contest

by karatam



Category: Legend of the Seeker
Genre: Community: femslash12, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-30
Updated: 2012-11-30
Packaged: 2017-11-19 21:44:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/577964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karatam/pseuds/karatam
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Cara ends up babysitting a helpless child for most of an afternoon while Kahlan goes gallivanting across the countryside stabbing things.</p>
            </blockquote>





	How to Lose a Staring Contest

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thrace](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thrace/gifts).



> Written for thrace_ for Femslash12. I hope you enjoy it :)
> 
> Huge thanks to C for the beta.

It’s a beautiful day in the Midlands. The sun is shining, the sky is blue, the birds are literally sitting on Kahlan’s shoulders and singing a lighthearted melody.

Cara is feeling the increasingly pressing need to punch something.

So if, when a scream rings out over the valley, she feels a flutter of excitement instead of concern… well, you can blame the damn birds.

Kahlan draws her daggers and takes off running for the hilltop, Cara right at her heels. They stumble into a clearing as a man in ragged leather armour presses his knife to a woman’s throat. His accomplice roots through what must have been her bag, tossing whatever he deems to be worthless over his shoulder. The woman sucks in a breath to scream again but the knife is pressed harder against her throat. She stays silent.

Cara sees the woman’s eyes close. Hears Kahlan suck in a quick breath, then the sound of rushing air and the dull thud of a sharp blade buried in flesh. Feels her own muscles engage, and the impact of boot on the soft tissue above a kidney, and the encompassing pain of nothingness as her Agiel makes contact. Her blood thrums in her veins, and the light behind his eyes goes out.  Another soul departs. 

Cara looks up in time to see the woman’s eyes open. She missed the show.

A hand on her back, and Cara turns. Kahlan hands her the bloody dagger.

“Are you alright?”

Cara wipes the red with a rag, and gives a nod – first up at Kahlan, then at the woman attacked.  Kahlan understands – _I’ll get this, you get that_.

Cara sets about rummaging through the pockets of the fallen bandit, as Kahlan turns carefully towards the woman.  She speaks and moves slowly, as if approaching a panicked animal.  “Excuse me, are you -”

“My baby!” The woman exclaims, launching to her feet and making a run for it. Instinctively, Cara matches the movement and reaches for her Agiel. Kahlan holds out an arm, and Cara heeds the unspoken command. The woman has slowed, and seems to merely be investigating a fallen tree.  She crouches down, and gathers something from the ground, emerging from behind the trunk with a wrapped bundle in her arms. “Oh, thank the Spirits!” 

Still paused, Cara’s pretty sure the woman should be thanking _them_ , but Kahlan’s already looking at her in warning, so Cara bites her tongue.

 “Mother Confessor, you must help us! My name is Sorcha and I’m from the village in the next valley. These men have taken most of the children and women from my village and most of the men are too injured to create large enough search parties.” Cara studies the woman. She has her hand on Kahlan’s arm, fingers gripping as tightly as to the soft bundle in her other arm. Her eyes flash in the soft light, and Cara can see tears collecting at the corners.

Kahlan turns to look at Cara. Cara pulls her gaze away from the woman to meet the look. This she knows: Kahlan has that look in her eyes that means they’re going to be doing something noble and heroic and possibly idiotic in the very near future. Cara sighs inwardly, waiting patiently for the shoe to drop. Sure enough, Kahlan turns toward her, eyes wide and piercing blue, and says, “We have to help, Cara.”

There’s a hesitant cough from the direction of Sorcha and they turn to look at her in question. She’s avoiding their gazes. “I’m sorry, Mother Confessor. But, while I didn’t move to village until my marriage, I know that they have a deep fear and dislike of Mord-Sith. They lost many girls to them over the years and were hit hard by quite a few raids.” She looks Cara up and down, taking in the red leather from head to toe. “I’m in no position to refuse assistance, but… I’m afraid that your companion wouldn’t be very welcome there.”

Cara slowly mouths the word ‘companion’ and smirks at the light blush that creeps up onto Kahlan’s cheeks. She recovers nicely, though, an alternate plan already forming.

“Well, I could go by myself to see if I can help while you stay here with Cara.” This time it’s Kahlan’s turn to smirk and the look of blatant displeasure on Cara’s face.

“The village is locked down, my lady. We don’t trust anyone. Not even you would be let through the gates without the guarantee of someone they trust.” Sorcha takes a deep breath and straightens her spine. “I must take you to the village myself.”

Kahlan glances down at the as yet unmentioned baby. “I can’t ask you to bring your baby back into a warzone, Sorcha.” Kahlan takes a beat before turning to glance at Cara. “But if we both must go, we can leave the baby in the care of Cara.”

Sorcha looks startled and reflexively holds the baby closer to her chest. “I’m sorry, my lady, but why would I trust my baby girl with a Mord-Sith of all people?” Her voice is high and slightly shrill with fear.

Looking into Sorcha’s face steadily, Kahlan says, “I trust her with my life every day and would trust her with the life of anyone I care about. You have nothing to fear from Cara, that I can promise you.”

As usual, Kahlan’s soothing tones have their desired effect and Sorcha’s body relaxes.

There’s a beat of silence while Cara stares at the clearly insane women with disbelief and Kahlan starts to grin.

“Cara will take wonderful care of your daughter,” Kahlan says with a brilliant smile as Cara glares at the side of her head.

And this is how Cara ended up babysitting a helpless child for most of an afternoon while Kahlan went gallivanting across the countryside stabbing things.

 

/ /

 

“I don’t know why they didn’t just take me along with them. It’s not like we’ve never been somewhere that hates Mord-Sith before.” Cara is sitting on a log with the baby balanced carefully in a nest of leaf covered branches.  After several attempts to hold the baby for long periods of time, some of which nearly involved the baby’s head hitting the ground, Cara had decided that not holding the baby would be the best choice. Taking a lesson from the birds that incessantly followed Kahlan around, she had arranged some of the softer branches together to make a little hollow just big enough for a child.

“I’m the best fighter in the Midlands – well, except for Kahlan on her more exceptional days, which aren’t actually that infrequent – and I’m relegated to taking care of a _baby_ in the middle of a forest while Kahlan’s fighting bandits and probably putting herself in unnecessary danger.” Cara rolls her eyes knowingly at the child, who gurgles back at her. “She and Richard both have an irritating habit of self-endangerment. They’d both have been dead ten times each without me. In the first month alone.”

The baby slowly drifts off to sleep to the – seemingly soothing – sounds of Cara’s ranting. Well, if that puts babies to sleep, then maybe Cara’s better at this caretaking thing than she thought.

 

/ /

 

The baby won’t stop screaming.

She is tiny; she should not be able to make that much noise when not slaughtering her enemies. And she had been sleeping peacefully only minutes ago. Cara takes a cautious sniff but can’t sense anything amiss and so awkwardly tries to pat the baby on the head.

The baby just screams harder.

Actually feeling her nerves fraying at the edges, Cara sighs deeply and crouches to pick up the baby in her arms. How does this work, exactly? She’s got her under the armpits, legs dangling, and that doesn’t seem right. Plus, the crying got louder. She pulls the child towards her experimentally, resting her against her shoulder. She slides an arm underneath the tiny weight, and does her best not to accidentally touch the baby with her Agiel.

Miraculously, Madeline immediately stops crying.

Cara feels a surge of pride at having successfully silenced the din, and tries not to think too much about having a tiny baby nestled along her very menacing and dangerous sternum. Whatever. Success never felt so sweet.

 

/ /

 

Cara stares at the baby and the baby stares back, both their eyes a matching green.

Long silent moments pass.

Then Cara blinks first.

She swears loudly while Madeline giggles happily.

 

/ /

 

Cara’s walking in slow circles around the campfire, holding Madeline against her hip and making quick, sharp movements with her free hand. Madeline watches every movement with intense concentration.

“So you have to make sure you don’t actually try to stab them in the back. Too many bones and hard things in the way of a blade. Reach around and stab upwards through the stomach and try to get to the soft tissue and then up to the important organs.”

Cara would swear that Madeline nods at her in agreement with her fighting advice.

 

/ /

 

Kahlan finally drags herself back to the clearing near to sundown, weary and aching. She’s got a cut above her eyebrow, a bruise developing along her back, and no greater desire than to simply collapse into her bedroll and take a long nap. But as she emerges from the trees and into the patch of evening light, the thought leaves her mind momentarily.

Cara is stretched out against a fallen log, Madeline sprawled against her chest, and both in a blissful sleep. There’s a soft snoring just barely audible through the stillness, and Kahlan knows it must be the baby. Cara doesn’t snore.

She takes a moment to absorb this tableau, as the chance will surely never come again. Then, she steps forward, nudges Cara with her toes, and settles down next to her with the bedroll. 

Cara startles, but immediately stills when she realizes the baby is still perched atop her chest. “Kahlan!” she hisses. “What took you so long?”

“It’s a good thing I got here when I did,” Kahlan yawns, stretching out under the cover. “I doubt it’s a wise idea to fall asleep in a dark forest at night when you’re supposed to be protecting a baby. It’s much easier to sneak up on you when you’re asleep. I just did it, after all.”

Cara stammers in protest. “You can be very stealthy when you want to be. And I’ll have you know, I performed my caretaker duties with… amazing skill.”

Kahlan rolls onto her side, to face Cara. She smiles at her, and squeezes her arm. “I’m sure.”  Even though she’s exhausted, she makes sure to look Cara in the eye, and do her best to convey the sincerity behind the teasing. Cara can’t always detect the nuance between sarcasm and genuine emotions despite how often she employs the former.

“Look, the baby’s fine.” Cara gestures to the sleeping lump on her chest with a prompting look. “Best evidence right here. One happy, sleeping, dry, not-murdered baby. I’d say I did a damn fine job.”

Kahlan nuzzles into her bedroll, letting her eyes finally close. She feels Cara’s weight settle in a bit next to her, getting more comfortable. 

“By the way, you’re going to need to take the baby back now,” Kahlan murmurs as she drifts into sleep.

“What?” Cara whips her head to the side. “I have to bring the baby back to the village that hates Mord-Sith?”

Kahlan nods, eyes still closed. “I’m sleeping. I did all that fighting and heroics.” She moves closer to Cara, and curls an arm over hers. Her fingers brush against the baby’s, and she smiles instinctively at how little they are.

Cara, however, uses her fingers to jab at Kahlan’s sternum. “I’m tired too, because I was taking care of a baby all day while you were out fighting, being needlessly noble and not doubt recklessly endangering your life! Moreover, I prefer not to die at the hands of angry villagers since I doubt you’d like it if I took care of the problem my way!”

Kahlan makes a noise that sounds lot like _shhhh_. “You’ll wake the baby.”

Cara’s outrage at being shushed instantly simmers at the warning. She peers down at Madeline, who just readjusts her weight and settles back into Cara’s chest with ease. “Fine,” she snaps, with as much annoyance as anyone can manage with a whisper.

But she can’t sleep after that, because, like Kahlan said, it’s probably a dumb idea to fall asleep with a baby in unprotected woods at night. So Madeline slept, and Kahlan slept, and Cara stayed awake and cursed those goddamned fucking birds.

 


End file.
